Kelsey Harrison

Infobox Scientist
name = Kelsey Harrison
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birth_date = 1933
birth_place = Abonnema, Rivers State
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residence = Finland
citizenship = Nigeria
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ethnicity = Ijaw
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work_institutions = Ahmadu Bello University
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known_for = maternal health
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prizes = NNOM
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Kelsey Harrison is a Nigerian gynecologist and obstetrician who contributed immensely to studies of maternal health, especially during pregnancy. As a researcher at the University of Ibadan, he was part of a group that discovered the dangerous threat posed by sickle cell to maternal and fetal lives among Africans. [http://www.nnma.gov.ng/NNMA%20CITATIONS%20Docs/Prof.%20Kelsey%20Harrison/pg1.pdf ~ ] ] He also raised awareness on the issue of maternal deaths, in which Nigeria had the second highest death incidents in the world. [Prof. Okonofua, "Nigeria;It's Not Abortion Bill." ThisDay (Nigeria), March 14, 2006.]

Life

Kelsey Harrison was born in Abonnema, Rivers State on January 9, 1933. After completing his primary education, he went to Government College, Umuahia for secondary studies. From there, he went to University College, Ibadan and the University of London from 1951 to 1958. After the completion of his studies, he chose obstetrics and gynecology as areas of specialization. In 1964, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

In 1960, he joined the faculty of medicine at the University of Ibadan, he stayed at Ibadan for 12 years, before moving to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to become the head of the Obstetrics department.

It was in Zaria that Kelsey Harrison gained wide attention, when he published the report of a survey that documented 22,774 consecutive deliveries. He used the data collected to find factors that contributed to the high number of maternal deaths in the country. His analysis led him to consider the importance of social epidemiology. [C. T. John; A. O. U. Okpani, Kelsey A Harrison: Forty Years Legacy in Tropical Obstetrics and Gynaecology, African Journal of Reproductive Health / La Revue Africaine de la Santé Reproductive > Vol. 4, No. 2 (Oct., 2000)] The problems of teenage marriage and pregnancy, women's supposed inferior status, and the use of unorthodox or traditional child delivering methods which encouraged antenatal neglect, he believed contributed greatly to the number of maternal death rates in the country. At Zaria, he also devised a management method that included sociologists, women groups and social workers to educate the community about maternal health and to encourage prenatal and antenatal care.

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